


Learning

by sororexitium



Series: Peter's Special Power Is Wrapping Tony Around His Tiny Finger [7]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Tony is an awesome dad, but so is Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-26 06:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/647484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sororexitium/pseuds/sororexitium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first day Peter is at school, Daddy doesn’t want to leave and keeps talking to Mr. Rocher with a mean voice and a hard stare that he keep for people he doesn’t like. Peter doesn’t make out a lot of what he says, because his Cap keeps him by his side, going through his bag to make sure that he has all his pencils, his notebook that has his name written across the top, and dinosaur erasers including the pterodactyl, because that one’s his favorite; it’s green. Cap also keeps looking at Daddy every so often, rolling his eyes before helping Peter out of his jacket settling it on the back of a chair and making sure his shoes are properly tied.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I've been MIA. I started a new job and then started school as a welder. It was a tough few months, but I'm back in action.  
> This is Pete's first day of school.

The first day Peter is at school, Daddy doesn’t want to leave and keeps talking to Mr. Rocher with a mean voice and a hard stare that he keep for people he doesn’t like. Peter doesn’t make out a lot of what he says, because his Cap keeps him by his side, going through his bag to make sure that he has all his pencils, his notebook that has his name written across the top, and dinosaur erasers including the pterodactyl, because that one’s his favorite; it’s green. Cap also keeps looking at Daddy every so often, rolling his eyes before helping Peter out of his jacket settling it on the back of a chair and making sure his shoes are properly tied. 

Peter doesn’t try to squirm away from him like he sometimes does at home. He feels weird and the skin on the back of his neck is itching uncomfortably. He doesn’t want Daddy and Cap to go so if they’ll just keep staying and talking to the teacher and making sure he hasn’t forgotten anything, it’s okay if Cap makes him feel like a baby. He almost wants to crawl into his arms like a baby and just stay there.

He doesn’t think he’s going to like this. He doesn’t know anyone here and it’s not the same as not knowing anyone at the park because Daddy and Cap are going to go home or to work and his aunts and uncles aren’t going to be there. Even when they go to save the world, he gets to stay with Darcy and she’s really cool and lets him stay up later than Cap and Daddy allow. But now he’s gonna be alone with all these kids and none of them look nice. They all seem to be playing with each other and he’s the odd one out. There’s not even Gwen to play with and it just…

“Hey,” Cap calls out gently, putting his big hand on Peter’s shoulder and giving a little shake. “You’re gonna have fun here. I promise. You’ll get to learn all sorts of new, fun stuff.”

Peter doesn’t think he will. Daddy always says that he’s smarter than most of his robots and robots are super smart. What if he’s too smart to be here? What if everything the teacher says he already knows and the teacher gets mad? What if the other kids make fun of him? He’s definitely not sure about this kindergarten thing. 

He’d much prefer to go to the park and play on the swing set. 

He looks up to Cap, muttering, “D’ya have to leave? You can stay, right?”

Cap smiles fondly, but shakes his head. “No, Petey. We can’t stay with you here. But it’s okay, because at noon, your dad and I will be here to pick you up and you can tell us about what you did today, and you’re dad already promised to get ice cream, remember?”

Peter does remember and it helps a little, knowing that he’ll only be here for a couple of hours, but it doesn’t set all of his nerves at ease. Still, he takes a deep breath and nods, trying to stand up straighter, to act brave like his parents always are. Cap says it’ll be okay, he tells himself. So, it’s gonna be okay. 

Cap smiles wider at him when he straightens up, ruffling his hair that Aunt Nat had worked so hard to tame this morning. It makes Peter smile to and swat at the offending hand. “Hey! Knock it off, Cap,” he giggles, feeling some of his nerves give way to a warm feeling in his chest. This is normal, playing with Cap and if that normal can be done at school then maybe school will become normal too, like the park, and going for ice cream, and going down to Daddy’s lab. “I’ll tell Aunt Nat!”

Cap chuckles himself, but lets his hand be pushed away, putting them up in the air. “Oh, my mistake. Please don’t tell big, bad Aunt Nat.”

Peter puffs up smugly, but startles when another hand lands in his hair to muss it up. He jerks his head up, and isn’t really surprised to see Daddy, who smiles at him though it’s a little off. Peter knows his dad’s smiles, so he knows when they’re super happy or a little strained. He doesn’t say anything about it though because he leans down and asks, “You gonna be okay here, Peter Pan?”

Peter spares a quick glance at Cap before meeting his dad’s eyes, giving a firm, assenting nod. “Yeah, Daddy. Cap says it’ll be fun.”

“Well,” he says, taking a deep breath and smoothing out Peter’s t-shirt. “Your Cap’s never been much of a liar. Fun, you will have.” He gives Peter another smile, and then says quietly, almost sadly, “Alright, baby boy. We’ve gotta get out of here; class is about to start.”

A fresh wave of nerves hit Peter at those words but he holds them back with everything he has. He manages a nod, and a look back at the class, colorful and noisy while Mr. Rocher is talking to another woman who reminds Peter a little of Aunt Pepper. He takes a calming breath, tells himself to be brave, before turning back to Daddy. “Okay. You’re gonna pick me up, though, right?” 

“Absolutely,” Daddy says immediately. “You, me, Cap, and ice cream; it’s a date!” That warms Peter a lot. Daddy then holds his arm out. “Alright, webhead, gimme a hug and then we gotta go.”

Peter doesn’t hesitate. He latches his arms around his dad’s neck and holds on tight as he’s hugged and a small peck is placed at his temple along with the muttered words, “Have fun, ‘kay?”  
“Okay,” is his response before he lets go and moves to give Cap a hug as well, getting a pat on the back and the promise, “We’ll see you soon.”

Then his parents stand and move toward the door. Peter fidgets a little, his hands antsy and fluttering nervously as he watches them move away and it’s almost as bad as when they go to save the world, but this time Darcy isn’t there with a movie and popcorn to distract him. They turn back one last time, giving him another wave goodbye, which Peter hastily returns and then they’re walking down the hall and away from the windows. 

Peter doesn’t really know what to do after that, so he stands there, looking around until he feels silly. He forces himself to walk toward his seat, opening his notebook and grabbing a pencil so that he can doodle on the inside flap until class starts. 

After a few minutes Mr. Rocher tells the students to take their seat, calling role and directing some of the others to their seat. 

Peter sighs. It already feels like forever since he’s seen his family.

IMCA

Tony makes sure he’s out of the building and well out of sight of his son before he stops a takes a deep breath. Five years ago, when Peter was new and fit comfortably in the crook of his elbow, when Mary and Ben were still alive and he was mostly an absent figure, school had been an easy thought. All children went to school; it was a fact of life in this day and age. He’s not sure if it would have hurt this much if Mary was still alive, but fuck if he doesn’t want to turn around and scoop his baby out of class.

Steve puts his hand on his back and Tony snaps back to himself. “So, that was surprisingly harder than I really imagined,” he said, leaning further into the hand rubbing at his spine.   
Steve nods, looking back at the building with an expression Tony knows must be on his own face, that look that says he’d rather just wait outside the school instead of going to do the few things they had planned in the morning. Tony wants to suggest they do just that, but the Avengers, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey and Darcy have all made a pact that they will let Peter experience school in as normal a way as possible. They had looked for the most exclusive and secured private school for Peter and they all had to trust that he would be safe.

“He’ll be fine,” Steve says, and if it’s more to himself than to Tony, neither of them will ever truly know. Tony knows Steve loves Peter, probably as much as Tony himself does. He loves playing with the little boy, and doesn’t mind when most of their dates involve taking Peter with them and God knows that Steve is more than a little protective of the squirt. He wouldn’t be at all surprised if Steve was contemplating skipping out on his meetings in SHIELD just to make sure today goes off without a hitch. “He’ll have fun. It’s four hours around kids with limited adult input.”

Tony blinked rapidly, giving Steve and incredulous look. “I’m not sure whether I would label that as comforting, Steve.” 

“It is comforting and you know it,” he retorts with a smile growing on his face. “Starks don’t seem to handle authority well. Peter will have his teacher wrapped around his finger in no time. He’ll love it.” He brings his hand down to give Tony’s a soothing squeeze before dropping his hand away, not entirely at ease with public displays of affection. “Come on,” he encourages. “You’ve gotta get to the office and I’ve got a meeting with Hill and Fury. It’ll help the time go by.”

Tony has his doubts, but lets himself be led to the car regardless.

IMCA

Tony doesn’t really do much when he gets back to his offices. In fact, he promptly takes himself to Pepper’s office, where to be honest his paperwork is likely waiting anyway. Pep knows him just a little too well and the likelihood of him actually reading and signing something without supervision is nil. Her desk is also large and easily able to accommodate her paperwork, Tony’s paperwork, and likely several other department head’s paperwork as well. It’s huge and pretty much made for a party. 

He strolls into her space easily and settles down into one of the designer chair after removing all moving apparatuses from the surface of her desk. It causes her to give him and unimpressed glare, but Tony cannot function if he has to watch those things just move monotonously. It’s distracting, like nails on a chalkboard, outdated though they may be. Strangely, she doesn’t comment on it, instead graciously, and quietly allows him to settle in at the desk, before pushing a stack of paper toward him. 

“How did it go?” she asks, flipping through some of her own sheets, hardly even looking up at him. 

Tony shrugs, looking briefly through the print to get a vague sense of the material. “I talked with the teacher--”

“Threatened the teacher,” she corrected.

“…Looked around the place--”

“Checked for easy ins and outs.”

“…broke down in Steve’s arms and bemoaned my child growing up.” He looks at her expectantly, seeing if she has a correction for that one. 

She glances up at him, her pen paused and her lips pursed. Then, releasing a small, elegant snort she shakes her head. “That one I can see all too well.”

Tony makes a small disgusted noise in the back of his throat, looking away from her and out the windows, studying the calm, morning skyline of New York City. He tries not to think about how easily that calm scene can break into panic and disaster, how long it takes New York to rebuild itself after every catastrophe. How easily the Avengers could be brought down to their knees if the disaster was centralized to a school district…

“I can smell your mind overheating, Tony. Stop worrying so much,” Pepper calls out to him, snapping him away from his pessimistic and, frankly, horrifying thoughts. He turns his head quickly to meet her calming smile that had always set him at ease. “Nothing will happen to him. You put his paperwork under his mom’s maiden name. No one would think to look for your son as Peter Fitzpatrick.” 

On the desk, her phone buzzes and she checks it perfunctorily, a little too quickly. Tony quickly snatches it out of her hands, reading the strange number as well as an update status on his son’s private school area. 

After Pepper snatches the phone back, he says, “I thought we all agreed that we would let Peter experience school normally.”

“You’re not the only one who can ignore rules,” Pepper retorts shortly, putting her phone in her purse. 

“Okay, that’s all well and good, but I was brow beaten. We decided--”

“That none of us would hang around and do surveillance. We aren’t. Natasha and I--”

Tony rolls his eyes. He should have guess. “It was a mistake letting you two talk again.”

“Tony,” Pepper says in that carefully calm tone that means Tony is being ridiculous. “The surveillance team doesn’t know who they’re doing this for. Natasha and Clint paid an old ally to keep an eye out around the area. Technically, nothing we decided has been compromised.” 

He admittedly sulks in his chair for a second or several. “I’m disowning all of you.”

She smiles. “No, you aren’t.” 

IMCA

Steve is practically itching with anticipation when Tony pulls his car into SHIELD premises. He’d managed to pay attention in his meetings, and kept his thoughts off Peter when he was supposed to be working, but now with nothing to occupy his thoughts, it’s practically all he can do not to bounce out of his skin. 

He slides into the car and greets Tony with a brief kiss. “Ready to go?”

Tony’s shrug is carefully nonchalant and staged. Steve can see tension going through his shoulders and the way he tightens his grip on the wheel before starting up a tapping rhythm to match the music playing from his MP3 system. He says, “I guess we’ll go get Peter Pan from Neverland,” but his eagerness is just as apparent as Steve’s. 

Not to mention the way he breaks every single speed law there is to get to Peter’s school.

On the way, Tony quietly says, “You know, you’re friends,” and Steve knows this is going to be good. The team is usually only Steve’s friends when they’ve done something to upset the other man. “decided to hire someone to maintain surveillance the school district.” 

Steve can’t say that he’s really surprised. “They’re your friends too, Tony,” he admonishes softly.

“No. No. Clint and Natasha are now firmly your friends. I’ll keep Bruce and Thor. Pepper can be on your side too seeing as she’s thrown in her allegiance with Natasha.”

He chuckles softly, tilting his head back against the headrest, reaching over to grasp one of Tony’s hands. He’s not surprised that those three went against their agreement. Tony tries to be a somewhat normal parent, there for his son while holding down a job as an inventor and as an Avenger, and Steve respects that though his own history with school is sad at best. The rest of the team and a lot of their friends have had troubles with their past, have shades over their life that make it hard to truly let anyone out of their sight. 

“You realize Thor and Bruce were probably in on it too, right?” Steve reminds.

Tony glances at him. “Do you just want them all to yourself? You can have Happy and Rhodey too, if you want.”

“No, I don’t want any of them to myself. They’re worried about him. We all love Peter.” He pauses, trying to collect his thoughts, figure out how to best express himself. “You’re his dad, and we do our best to reinforce the rules you lay down, but there are some things that we can’t get around. Clint and Natasha are spies. They worry about other spies finding Peter. Pepper has lived in your spotlight and lately her own…she wants to move that spotlight away from Pete. We’re all just trying our best.”

Tony is quiet for several beats, though his hand stays in Steve’s. He watches the traffic as he zooms in and out of it. Then finally he says, “Well, I’m not his only parent. So I guess if you can be okay with this, I can too.”

Steve feels his heart bursting in his chest and stares at Tony, sort of unbelieving that Tony would just…say something like that so easily. When Peter had first been brought home, Tony had been very protective of his son, understandably, but he had let the Avengers become a part of their family. Still, to think that Tony regards Steve as another parent to his son…

“Seriously, Steve,” Tony says after brief glance in his direction. “You have to have noticed. Even webhead has noticed. He noticed before we were even dating. The kid calls you Cap. Not Uncle, like he calls the rest of my friends and family. You’re his Cap.” He shrugs. “Closest I think we’ll get to him calling you Pop, I guess. But he regards you as another father.” 

To say that Steve is shell shocked is an understatement. He’d never really thought of it like that. Peter called him ‘Cap,’ but Steve had always thought he picked it up from the others. To realize that what his way of calling him a parental figure was…mind blowing. 

Tony pulls up to the school and parks the car. “You’re okay with that, right?”

“Yeah!” he replies quickly, eagerly. “No, I’m fine with that. I just didn’t really think about it.”

“Well, try not to over think it. We gotta go get Peter Cottontail. Let’s go.”

They arrive at the school exactly at noon, and though Tony seems to be looking around the streets curiously, his face lights up when he sees Peter stepping into the hallway. Steve, still feeling a little lightheaded, manages to smile, his heart lighter than ever when he runs into Tony’s arms, multicolored papers held in his small hands and a grin on his face. It only gets better when Peter dives into his arms, allowing him to pick him up and babbling about what he did that day, shifting through papers to show them both all he did at school. 

“I told you you’d have fun,” Steve says with a grin. 

Peter nods, staring down at his papers. “It was lots of fun, Cap!”

IMCA

They walk to the ice cream parlor, and people take pictures as they go. Natasha catches up with them about a block away from the school and Clint and Bruce show up a few blocks later. Thor is waiting at the store looking innocent and jovial. 

“Pepper and Happy are meeting us here soon,” Natasha says, settling Peter onto her lap and sharing a plate of fries with him. 

Peter grins, looking ridiculously happy. “Awesome!” He turns to Thor. “Is Jane and Darcy gonna come?” 

Thor casts a glance at Tony and Steve before he grins. “If you so wish it we shall send for them!”

Steve wraps his hand around Tony’s under the table. 

It was a surprisingly good day.


End file.
